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Next round of Dinan upgrades

My driver Z8 is currently at Dinan's facility where the engine is being upgraded to provide more power. While the car is there, I have asked Steve Dinan to investigate a number of other areas and will report on his findings as we go along. In the mean time, Steve has passed along the following information:

Steve has found a way to optimize the performance of Michelin's PS2s on the Z8 and they are now his top recommendation. That means I will be replacing the Yokohama Advan Sports with PS2s. Steve said the Michelins always had more grip than the Yokohamas but tended to be squirrelly at speed, particularly as the width of the tires increased. I believe he has found a way to stabilize their performance through alignment settings and will pass along the specifics when they are available.

Steve is willing to do another run of anti-roll bars for the Z8 but would need 25 firm orders before he could proceed. These would be the same as the ones supplied in the past. He also said they should not be run at the full stiff settings since that will not provide the best handling from the suspension. An alternative would be to organize a group purchase on this board from a different manufacturer and try to have them made with hollow tubes which would reduce weight considerably.

I asked Dinan what he would recommend for a LSD for the Z8 and he said the Quaife is the best unit available.

Steve is going to work on an alternative shock tower brace for the Z8 and we are exploring the possibility of using one like the current M3 has which runs from the tops of the shock towers back to the firewall. This eliminates the clearance issues with a front bar and acts to stabilize the towers directly, instead of from the side. I believe he will use carbon fiber in the brace.

Dinan feels the only suspension bushing that can be upgraded on the Z8 is the one in the front tension compression rod. This has been changed to a monoball on my car. He insists that changing any others would be a mistake and result in a degradation in handling.

Thanks so much, great info, one request I would like to put forward is that I think he may be low/out of the castor plates that you and I have long had. I think these are an excellent addition to the car, as well as working very well with or without the PP to stiffen up the dome. I keep recommending them to people, but would love to know if he'd do another short run of those for us too if they run out.

On a more personal note I am using his swaybars at full stiff, but this is to counter the much softer Alpina suspension that I'm now using on my car. I'd love to hear if he feels that is wrong, because it feels very, very right, both on track and street.

Andrew Macpherson

Expert Z8 Inspections, with full support for both Z8 sale and purchases.

Andrew,
I will ask Steve about the caster plates but it is important to recognize that Z8 stuff sells in very low quantities and it is hard to justify production runs of any size under those circumstances. His comments regarding anti-roll bar settings only referred to the Z8, not the Alpina, so I would use your own judgement. I don't believe he has had much, if any, experience with the Alpina set-up but I will ask him about it.